Building a Web Site For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 8. Plugging In Scripts and Applets

In This Chapter

Checking for CGI access Implementing CGI scripts Using JavaScript Adding Java applets

This book shows you how to add cool features to your Web site. These features are all programs of one kind or another. Relax, though — you don’t have to be a programmer to use them. It’s just that HTML has its limitations, and if you want to expand the functionality of your Web site, you have to go just a wee bit beyond it. HTML is mainly focused on the task of displaying text and images, along with the capability to link various files together, and it performs these tasks admirably well.

That’s fine if all you want to do is to have a Web site that could be duplicated on paper using only crayons and paste. However, you’ll probably want to have many more things, adding capabilities that your average visitor will expect to find on any well-designed site. Here are some of the things that you can do with scripts and applets on your Web site:

✓	Add a search feature that lets visitors find the material they’re looking for without having to manually go over every page on your site.
✓	Provide password protection to keep certain areas of your site available only for the initiated.
✓	Enable visitors to communicate with you and with each other through a variety of methods ranging from simple graffiti-like message boards to sophisticated and full-featured chat rooms.
✓	Add timekeeping tools such as clocks and calendars.
✓	Ease site exploration by providing ...